A year after the fact, Page Burkum can't believe his old-school country band the Cactus Blossoms ever performed without a pedal-steel guitar player.

"It was sort of like a metal band playing without a drummer," Burkum cracked Monday night as his group set up for its weekly gig at the Turf Club in St. Paul.

Many things seemed to perfectly fall into place a year ago for Burkum and his harmony-swapping real-life brother, Jack Torrey. That's when the siblings recruited the best musicians they could find to help record their debut album, not imagining those same players would agree to become full-time members of their band.

Since then, the Cactus Blossoms have quickly turned into the Twin Cities' most beloved new traditional-country act (there's nothing "alt" about them). After a bustling summer of outdoor gigs -- including the State Fair -- they are settling back into bars for the fall, including a show Saturday at Merlins Rest Pub in the popular Schlitz Kickin' Country series.

Certainly, some of the Blossoms' success can be attributed to the seasoned players in the band. Their overdue pedal-steel man, Randy Broughten, is a Trailer Trash vet who also plays in the Gear Daddies. Fiddler Mike "Razz" Russell has played with Joe Henry and Mark Olson of the Jayhawks, while bassist Liz Draper's résumé includes Black Blondie and currently Lucy Michelle's Velvet Lapelles.

However, the fact that these ace musicians of two different generations committed to playing with a little-known country band is also a tribute to the two guys at the helm.

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"When I heard the songs they wanted us to play on, that was more than enough for me," said Broughten, whose dedication is no small feat. He commutes from Northfield for the gigs and rises early to teach phy-ed at Rosemount High School.

The songs he referred to are the eight originals on the Cactus Blossoms' 10-tune debut record -- selections that made the CD stand out. They range from the tear- and beer-soaked, Hank Williams-copping opener "A Sad Day to Be You" to the poppier, Everly Brothers-styled "Stoplight Kisses" to the playful floor-sweeping romp "Cold Foot Boogie." All those numbers have two things in common: a raw, vintage acoustic sound dated to pre-JFK, and the two brothers' crisp, timeless harmonies.

Russell said of their harmonizing talent: "I've worked with a lot of people who do that, and these guys just seem to have it in their DNA."

Burkum and Torrey -- the latter adopted a different stage name when he started singing at age 19 -- grew up in northeast Minneapolis in a musical household. However, they did not start performing together until three years ago. Torrey, 26, originally wanted to be the next Bob Dylan. Burkum, 31, played drums in a blues band. When they lived together for a spell, they bonded over the folk/roots music bible, Harry Smith's "Anthology of American Music," and other historic albums.

"We got into singing older music like this just as sort of a thing to do with friends," Burkum recalled. "That's when people were like, 'Hey, you guys go together well.'"

Torrey disputed the rather hard-to-dispute fact that not many music fans their age are discovering classic country and American folk nowadays.

"This music is actually more accessible than it's probably ever been," he said. "You can look up most of these acts on YouTube now, and you don't have to find the one store in town that stocks their records to hear them."

There certainly weren't many twenty-somethings in the crowd Monday at the Turf Club, and aside from the band's originals, there weren't any songs younger than 50 years old (the best of the oldies included Ray Price's "Crazy Arms," Jimmie Rodgers' "Traveling Blues" and Lefty Frizzell's "A Little Unfair"). But between the two dapper brothers' fresh urban-cowboy look and the Turf's hipster cachet, it certainly felt like a youthful affair. Or at least it felt nice that kids in the Twin Cities can still go out and hear country music played this convincingly -- and not have to rely on YouTube.

Random mix

The Twin Cities' latest club vet to land on NBC's "The Voice," Nick "The Feelin'" Mrozinski will continue to perform around town during audition weeks. He's performing at the Nomad Pub every Sunday and at the Harriet Brewing Company's Rauchfest on Sept. 29 along with the Big Wu (tickets at www.HarrietBrewing.com). ... Another cool brewery gig: The Goondas, Koo Koo Kanga Roo and Abstract Artimus are playing Surlyfest this Saturday (sold out right away). ...

One of the lead films in the Twin Cities Film Fest (Oct. 12-20) will be "The Rhymesayers European Tour," a documentary shot on the 2011 trek with Atmosphere, Brother Ali and Evidence. Tickets to the Oct. 16 screening are on sale now at TwinCitiesFilmFest.org. ... The 13th annual Sound Unseen film fest is Oct. 10-14, with documentaries on everyone from Bad Brains to Journey's YouTube-discovered singer. Though not part of the fest, organizers will also screen "The Rise and Fall of the Clash" at the Ritz Theater on Oct. 6. Details on all that at Soundunseen.com. ...

Speaking of the Ritz, the ever-percolating northeast Minneapolis theater is hosting its so-called "First Annual Giant Birthday Bash" on Saturday with the Blind Shake, Walker Fields, Western Ridge and L'Assassins, who will be premiering a new B-movie-inspired video at the party for their song "Backseat Bomp" (8 p.m., $5, all ages). ...

Right behind dubstep as the music kids are going crazy for -- OK, not really -- Finnish folk music gets a fresh update from local duo Kaivama on its second album. Fiddler Sara Pajunen and acoustic guitarist Jonathan Rundman (who also performs under his own name) are hosting a release concert Tuesday at St. Paul's Pilgrim Church (7:30 p.m., $15). ... Chamber-folk stars Dark Dark Dark have added a second album-release show at the Cedar Cultural Center. They will be there Oct. 3 and 5 promoting "Who Needs Who," which hits stores Oct. 2. ...

After last weekend's outdoor punk-rock bash was canceled due to singer Fat Mike running a high fever, NOFX rescheduled with two indoor shows at the Cabooze on Dec. 4 and 5, but local faves Dillinger Four are no longer confirmed to open. How about if D4 re-ups its punk-rock cred by playing an outdoor gig that weekend anyway?

Chris Riemenschneider has been covering the Twin Cities music scene since 2001, long enough to earn a shout-out from Prince during “Play That Funky Music (White Boy).” The St. Paul native was also a music critic at the Austin American-Statesman for five years.
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